#bkbrigade

Simple tools and humble beginnings that spawn into greatness are the foundation for some of the greatest stories ever told.

You will rarely ever read or hear about a person who instantly picked up a tool or a craft and created a masterpiece that inspired a generation.  That’s not real life.  For most of us, our beginnings are often the most important part of our later accomplishments.  They tend to tell a story of growth, maturity and understanding in anything we do, and often are overlooked as the reason behind why their stories are so inspiring to begin with.  It’s always more impressive to us to see the evolution from an amateur to a professional because it’s a trait that we can all relate to - it’s what makes us human.  

We all yearn for the final end goal, in our modern day era, where everything is at our fingertips.  We usually can’t even finish reading the text that is in front of us (gotcha!), before our attention draws us to something else.  But that is why I think now, more than ever, the path to greatness is so impressive.  Because we have everything handed to us, we don’t know how to appreciate the journey.  

But hope is not lost, and technology has not failed our modern notions.  We just need a reminder sometimes that even in the simplest of tools, we can create masterful works of art, photos to be remembered and use it as a stepping stool toward greater work.  I’m talking about the invention of the Ring Light.

Lighting is something that many people spend years understanding.  This is true for so many things.  Photography, videography, painting, even with interior design - we must understand the way the light is working for us, so we can change it and warp it to our will.  And, with professional photography, there is an entire world of lighting available that it almost makes me run for the hills, to hide from the world and hole up in a cabin.  Even now, it stresses me out, because light is a fickle creature that is so objective to many in how it is done properly.  

When Keiko and I were starting out, many moons ago, with creating content for social media and our blogs, we didn’t know a thing about lighting.  We also had no money to go out and simply buy the lights that others would recommend us to get because guess what? Lighting is so expensive, if you plan to do it right.  It was always such a criminal thought that we couldn’t just go to Home Depot and pick up a $20 fluorescent clip-on lamp because things like color temperature, intensity and even heat would affect the outcome of the shots we were looking for.  But that all changed when we found out about Ring Lights.

They’re the saving grace for so many people, being relatively inexpensive lights that are so approachable for the amateur photographer.  For a couple hundred dollars, you can take a ring light and plug it into a power outlet and boom, done.  Count the photos you love and think of the endless creative ways to make beautiful shots, and then you’ll have an idea of how much I love this thing.

After years of using our ring light, we learned more and more about lighting in the process, and invested in more professional gear along the way, when we opened up Brooklyn Brigade, our rental studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn.  But still, to this day, it’s an easy call to break out the ring light for certain projects or looks in mind, knock them out and never regret the process.  

The brand that I use is from a company called My Ring Light.  Easy, right?  They have been such a wonderful company to purchase from because not only is their light the best, but their customer service is incredible.  After having the light for nearly a year, at one point, we had a scare when it decided that it didn’t want to work anymore.  It didn’t seem to be the bulb, and we hadn’t dropped it or hurt the light at all.  So, it seemed like a dark day and a pain in the ass, since Keiko was planning on using it shortly later to work on a photo project.  I’ve never had the best luck with pleading for the understanding of a brand, but I decided to write to them and let them know what happened and see if they had any advice on what to do for troubleshooting.  They did me one better.  The next day, I got an email that the owner had sent out a brand new light with an extra ring bulb, and that it would be arriving shortly later.  All we had to do was ship the defective light back!

They saved our life and since I have loved this light and brand even more.

But to come back to my start, the ring light was an amazing starting tool, and it taught me so much about how to take a better photo than I was before.  I was able to create beautiful work and without any idea how to work other lighting and it only made me hungry to learn more.  

The process of starting small and seeing results led to learn more and be a better version of myself.  Now, I look back and see how far I’ve come, and still how far I plan to go.  The ring light was, for me, one of those instrumental tools that has shaped my growth in photography and my hope, if you’re still reading this, is that you might find that same curve of growth, also.

In short, if you’re a budding photographer, videographer, content creator or enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to look into it, do your research, shop around and challenge yourself toward the next big goal.

Best, Bobby